5 big-screen rodents that stole our hearts--and box-office receipts

Big-screen rodents steal our hearts - and box-office receipts

Photo courtesy of AP

The year's been packed with astonishing Hollywood heroes, but that won't stop one more from trying to break into our cultural consciousness when his eponymous film opens Friday. This intrepid protagonist, however, stands apart from the others - in part because he's low-tech, fighting evildoers not with a suit of iron or a Batmobile, but with a simple sword. Oh, and there's the matter of size and species: He's a little mouse. The swashbuckling star of "The Tale of Despereaux" follows a long lineage, both on the screen and on the page. The history of this animated archetype began with Mickey Mouse in countless Disney shorts. Later, gallant mice became humans' helpers (Reepicheep in "Prince Caspian" is the most recent example) as well as heroes of their own small-mammal world (Basil of Baker Street in "The Great Mouse Detective"). "They're little and cute. What's not to like?" queries Nicole Dreiske, who encounters hundreds of cartoon animals as artistic director of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. "The farther removed you are from rats and mice, the cuter you think they are. I don't think farmers find them as appealing when they eat the grain." "They're really good underdog characters," observes David Petersen, who knows plenty about rapier-wielding rodents: He's the writer-artist of the indie series "Mouse Guard," winner of two Eisner Awards (the Pulitzers of comic-book publishing). "Everything wants at them. Humans can't stand having them around in their home. Pretty much every carnivore will eat a mouse." Thanks to the boffo box office (more than $206 million domestically) of "Ratatouille," Dreiske predicts, "in the next few years, I think you're going to see more rodent films." Which inspires us to take special note of the silver-screen rodents we love:

The year's been packed with astonishing Hollywood heroes, but that won't stop one more from trying to break into our cultural consciousness when his eponymous film opens Friday. This intrepid protagonist, however, stands apart from the others - in part because he's low-tech, fighting evildoers not with a suit of iron or a Batmobile, but with a simple sword. Oh, and there's the matter of size and species: He's a little mouse. The swashbuckling star of "The Tale of Despereaux" follows a long lineage, both on the screen and on the page. The history of this animated archetype began with Mickey Mouse in countless Disney shorts. Later, gallant mice became humans' helpers (Reepicheep in "Prince Caspian" is the most recent example) as well as heroes of their own small-mammal world (Basil of Baker Street in "The Great Mouse Detective"). "They're little and cute. What's not to like?" queries Nicole Dreiske, who encounters hundreds of cartoon animals as artistic director of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. "The farther removed you are from rats and mice, the cuter you think they are. I don't think farmers find them as appealing when they eat the grain." "They're really good underdog characters," observes David Petersen, who knows plenty about rapier-wielding rodents: He's the writer-artist of the indie series "Mouse Guard," winner of two Eisner Awards (the Pulitzers of comic-book publishing). "Everything wants at them. Humans can't stand having them around in their home. Pretty much every carnivore will eat a mouse." Thanks to the boffo box office (more than $206 million domestically) of "Ratatouille," Dreiske predicts, "in the next few years, I think you're going to see more rodent films." Which inspires us to take special note of the silver-screen rodents we love: (Photo courtesy of AP)

Animals' befriending humans is as old as Walt Disney's first feature, Snow White, from 1937-but it wasn't until 1950 that a cartoon heroine shared significant screen time with talking mice. Poor Cinderella would never have married that prince if scrappy Jaq and tubby Gus, the Abbott and Costello of the mouse world, hadn't outwitted the wicked stepmother and outrun her cat Lucifer. (They even proved to be pretty good dress designers!) Bonus points for their distinctive speech, provided by James MacDonald (the longtime voice of Mickey Mouse), including Jaq's cute penchant for tweaking everyone's name ("Gus-Gus" and "Cinderelly").

Animals' befriending humans is as old as Walt Disney's first feature, Snow White, from 1937-but it wasn't until 1950 that a cartoon heroine shared significant screen time with talking mice. Poor Cinderella would never have married that prince if scrappy Jaq and tubby Gus, the Abbott and Costello of the mouse world, hadn't outwitted the wicked stepmother and outrun her cat Lucifer. (They even proved to be pretty good dress designers!) Bonus points for their distinctive speech, provided by James MacDonald (the longtime voice of Mickey Mouse), including Jaq's cute penchant for tweaking everyone's name ("Gus-Gus" and "Cinderelly").